{"id":132514,"date":"2025-09-04T15:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/132514\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T15:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:14:09","slug":"clean-shaven-shane-lowry-looks-unrecognisable-without-iconic-beard-during-irish-open-victory-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/132514\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean-shaven Shane Lowry looks unrecognisable without iconic beard during Irish Open victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shane Lowry is one of the most recognisable players in golf thanks to his huge beard, but that wasn’t always the case.<\/p>\n

In 2009, the then-amateur surprised everyone to win the Irish Open<\/a>, and he couldn’t have looked more different.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

The Irishman looks very different these days\"Winning<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Winning on home soil made it all the more magicalCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Lowry<\/a> didn’t have his signature beard, but established himself as a top talent with victory at County Louth.<\/p>\n

His win was just the third, at that time, by a non-professional player on the European Tour.<\/p>\n

And with the 2025 edition of the Irish Open<\/a> taking place this week, now seems like the perfect time to look back.<\/p>\n

Lowry was just 22 years old and was ranked 16th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings heading into the then-called 3 Irish Open.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, it was his first time competing professionally at the links course in Baltray, but after three extra holes were required to determine the winner, Lowry emerged victorious.<\/p>\n

After finishing level on 17-under with Robert Rock, the duo parred the first play-off hole before they both birding the second.<\/p>\n

However, Rock could only manage a bogey on the third, which left Lowry with a short putt to win that he dispatched with ease despite the rainy conditions.<\/p>\n

Soon after, he turned professional and he hasn’t looked back, with his crowning moment coming with his 2019 Open win at Royal Portrush.<\/p>\n

Among the field at County Louth that 2009 weekend were Rory McIlroy<\/a> and Lee Westwood<\/a>, and to this day, he rates it as one of his best achievements in golf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is also the last time an amateur won on the DP World Tour<\/a> and despite McIlroy’s Irish Open win 2016 at the The K Club, Lowry is the last Republic of Irishman to win the tournament on home soil.<\/p>\n

\"BALTRAY,<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Lowry’s win was a huge moment in his career and for Irish golfCredit: Getty\"Irish<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Lowry was one a fresh-faced amateur rather than top playerCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Speaking about the win ten years on<\/a> in 2019, Lowry said: “I feel very lucky that I was able to live something like that.<\/p>\n

“That is a dream. As long as I live, I think it’ll be my greatest achievement in golf.”<\/p>\n

What are his chances this time?<\/p>\n

Here we are 16 years later, and Lowry is one of the top 20 players in the world.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old has received a call-up<\/a> for the 2025 Ryder Cup<\/a> in America, where Team Europe will look to defend their title.<\/p>\n

However, it has been a mixed season for Lowry.<\/p>\n

At all four Majors, he hasn’t finished higher than 40th, missing the cut at the PGA Championship and US Open.<\/p>\n

On the regular PGA Tour, he has two second-place finishes, but only one other top-ten finish.<\/p>\n

Despite this, he is looking forward to playing in Europe ahead of the Ryder Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Irish<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Lowry couldn’t believe he sealed the winCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

He said: “I think it actually works well for us Europeans – we get to come to the environment that we’re essentially playing for.<\/p>\n

“I feel when you go play the Ryder Cup, you’re playing for much more than just the 12 lads, the caddies or the people that are there. You’re playing for the [DP World] Tour, for a lot of people on the outside.<\/p>\n

“To put ourselves in that environment over the next two weeks, it kind of shows what it would mean to everyone. I quite enjoy that, especially with what we’ve got coming up.<\/p>\n

“You’re getting well wishes off everybody. It’s not even just the Europeans, it’s the other guys, the Kiwis or the South Africans. I think everyone has a want for the European Ryder Cup team to win this Ryder Cup.”<\/p>\n

But before the Ryder Cup gets underway, the Irish Open takes centre-stage.<\/p>\n

WATCH Shane Lowry has furious X-rated meltdown over wayward tee shot in dramatic second round at The Open<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane Lowry is one of the most recognisable players in golf thanks to his huge beard, but that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":131741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[83245,427,83246,83247,83249,83248,11383,11384,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-132514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-clean-shave-shane-lowry","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-irish-open","11":"tag-irish-open-2009","12":"tag-irish-open-2025","13":"tag-lowry-wins-2009-irish-open","14":"tag-ryder-cup","15":"tag-shane-lowry","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}